


Widower's Walk

by Wallwalker



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Community: 100_leitmotifs, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-02
Updated: 2009-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-04 02:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd never imagined that he'd be the one left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Widower's Walk

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [100 Leitmotifs](http://community.livejournal.com/100_leitmotifs) at Livejournal (which is still one of the best ideas for a themed writing community I've seen yet. It's a shame that it's inactive now.)

General Caraway had always thought that he'd die and leave Julia behind - either he'd be gunned down in combat, or he'd be assassinated by political dissidents. He'd always hated the thought of it, and not just because it meant thinking of his own death. He'd seen plenty of military widows before, had broken the sad news to many of them himself - no matter how many euphemisms he cloaked the messages in, their faces always crumbled and fell when they realized what the message meant, that their husbands would never come home.

They were sad sights, especially the young ones - somber, red-eyed ladies, dressed in black with veiled faces at the state funerals, always trying to smile and be strong even though it was obvious that they were falling apart. He'd even learned how to recognize them without fail, without the black dresses and the veils. There was a certain way that widows walked, after their husbands were taken and they were left to take on all the weight of the world without them.

It had broken his heart, and had made him lie awake for hours at a time on some nights, wondering if the next battle would be his last. He didn't want to think about Julia as one of those women, even when things were at their worst between them.

He'd never thought that he'd be the one left behind.

There was no such thing as a widower's walk; he imagined that the phrase didn't even exist. Men were supposed to be strong, to never bend under the weight of their loss no matter how great it was. He supposed he tried to be as strong as any of them, even when things were at their worst. But much later, after Rinoa finally ran away from home, he would always wonder if letting himself show a bit of weakness might've kept his daughter from hating him.

The worst part about it was that he'd never know.


End file.
